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Bon Voyage, Tai Shan!

The dreaded day has come folks—Tai Shan (né Butterstick), the four and a half-year-old panda will depart for Wolong's Bifengxia Base in Ya'an, Sichuan today, February 4, by way of FedEx. (Yes, apparently they have panda-sized envelopes.)Though sad for us, the little guy may not be too despondent o...

By
Jesse Rhodes

smithsonian.com
February 3, 2010

The dreaded day has come folks—Tai Shan (né Butterstick), the four and a half-year-old panda will depart for Wolong's Bifengxia Base in Ya'an, Sichuan today, February 4, by way of FedEx. (Yes, apparently they have panda-sized envelopes.)

Though sad for us, the little guy may not be too despondent over going to a panda research facility where he'll (hopefully) help bolster the panda population by making a few babies. And did I mention that he will have a traveling companion? Mei Lan, a 3-year-old female panda from the Atlanta Zoo. May their romantic trip high above the Pacific Ocean be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Check out the video above for those of you out there who would like to remember all the wonderful things about little Tai Shan during his short stay here.

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